King of Her Desire

26

"What's goin' on here?" I asked Gerri.

Cause when the Uber pulled up, she and Sochi were out in front of her house watching some guys load stuff into what looked like a moving van.

And Sochi turned, waved, and said, "I see you!" In English, right?

"How about that?" Gerri said, grinning like a proud parent.

"Are we moving?" I asked her.

"Well, one of us probably could now," she said. Winking at Sochi.

So I went over to look into the truck. There were four big pottery vases in there. Those huge ones you could put a tree in. Only these ones were painted and glazed a lot fancier than usual.

"You re-decorating or something?" I asked Gerri.

And she came over and took my arm and said, "Come in and have some breakfast! You've got a lot of catching up to do."

And when I looked back at Sochi she did this little "jig" thing. A little hop and skip, like a kid who just found out her parents had bought her a pony or something.

And in the kitchen, Gerri pointed to these terra cotta platters on the table. Beneath the food there were these ancient Mayan and Aztec looking faces on them. And one had this old Indian woman sitting almost in lotus position, with this blanket draped over her.

She looked sort of abstract, and yet...you could feel her. She had a presence, without eyes, without any distinct features—I wish I could make sense of it for you. It just...drew me in...

"That is a Xochitl original," Gerri said.

I looked over at Sochi and said, in Spanish, "You did this?"

And she smiled all proud and said, "I can draw."

"No shit you can draw," I said, in English. And she got it without translation.

"She painted one of the big ollas outside the house," Gerri said. "And one of our neighbors saw them—she owns a couple of huge plant nurseries here in town where they sell things like that. For the garden, you know? So she asked Sochi if she could decorate a few of them, and she sold all four of them in one day. For big bucks, too. And now Miraval has ordered a whole resort full—I showed them a picture, told them a little bit about her..."

"You have to be kidding me!"

Gerri threw an arm around Sochi and said, "Of course, we're going to have to figure out how to handle orders like that, but they're so enamored of this girl! They're having some art dealers come by soon, in fact."

"You can't believe it!" Sochi teased me. In Spanish this time.

"No, it's...I mean, it's amazing! But the moving thing—that wasn't for real, right?"

Gerri said, "Oh, no! But I do think she wants to pay rent. Or that's how Oscar explained it."

They started bringing out all this food I couldn't even pay attention to with all these changes rushing by me so fast...

I managed to say, "Oscar?"

And Gerri chirped, "Oh, he's one of the landscapers who helps translate for us sometimes. I think he's kinda sweet on her, too, actually. Nice kid. Hasn't been here too long himself."